LV Life

Multicultural Fair raises awareness

Sophomore social science major Kim Reed hosted the Hunger Banquet, presenting statistics and important facts regarding hunger around the world. An empty black table represented the food sources of the poor countries, while at another table a small group enjoyed a warm and plentiful dinner. The Hunger Banquet: Learning through Eating's main purpose was to raise consciousness on the unequal distribution of food and hunger issues. / photo by Vicky Martinez
Sophomore social science major Kim Reed hosted the Hunger Banquet, presenting statistics and important facts regarding hunger around the world. An empty black table represented the food sources of the poor countries, while at another table a small group enjoyed a warm and plentiful dinner. The Hunger Banquet: Learning through Eating’s main purpose was to raise consciousness on the unequal distribution of food and hunger issues. / photo by Vicky Martinez

by Tim Tevault
Staff Writer

To help raise awareness for different issues, the Intercultural Festival and Peace Fair was held from April 24-26 all around campus. Coordinated by the International Student Center, the four events each corresponded to the theme, “Come to the Table.”

The first event was the Peace Fair, held on April 24 in Sneaky Park. Booths, such as the House of Ruth, helped promote. The purpose of the Fair, according to coordinator and Protestant Campus Minister Debbie Roberts was “to raise awareness by having representatives of these organizations on campus.”

Roberts said that the theme, “Come to the Table,” did not only apply to food, hunger and starvation, as the flyers advertising the fair suggested, but she believed it could also mean “having more information on our plates.” Students could then take that information and learn a very important lesson from it.

The second event, the Hunger Banquet, featured a “model of income levels, worldwide,” said coordinator Kim Reed. A few hours after the Peace Fair, participants were required to draw a number upon entrance. If they drew a “1,” the students were seated at a nice table with a tablecloth, and were fed chicken dinners. If they drew a “2,” they were given only chairs and fed a bowl of rice and beans with a glass of water. If they had “3,” they had to sit on the floor and were fed rice and water.

Reed said, “I think that it made people think and it brought those issues to the forefront.”

The second half of the Fair was kicked off on the 26th with guest speaker Pico Iyer, whose speech covered “Globalization and the Food We Eat.” Iyer is an accomplished writer who has appeared in publications such as TIME magazine and the New York Review of Books.

Wrapping everything up was the Intercultural Fair where, participants set up booths of their native countries.

Once set up, students browsed around, tasting different foods, viewing foreign objects and learning more about cultures other than their own. There were also different kinds of entertainment going on, such as African drummers, an international fashion show and salsa dancing.

“It’s mostly for the students,” said coordinator Marcy Garcia. “It’s their day to share their culture.

“I think by doing this fair people get curious,” said Barbara Pfisterer, who helped run the German booth. “They will see things they’ve never heard of.”

“This is a big event for ULV,” said Anne Charron, while helping set up the French booth. “We want them to learn about our culture, food, our way of life.”

Many people involved with the two-day event all agreed that this was a great way to help promote awareness of different cultures and ways that exist both on and off campus. “It was good to see a lot of the faculty and staff out there,” Garcia said.

Tim Tevault
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Vicky Martinez
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